Louisiana Standards
Louisiana Grades 11–12 ELA Standards
All 41 Louisiana English language arts standards for grades 11–12, each explained in plain English. The official wording is in Louisiana Department of Education's document, linked at the end of this page.
41 standards
Reading Standards for Literature
9 standardsRL.11-12.1
Back an analysis of a literary work with strong, thorough, relevant evidence about what it states and implies, including where the text leaves things unclear.
RL.11-12.2
Trace two or more themes through a novel or play, show how they feed into each other to make a richer story, and sum it up without taking sides.
RL.11-12.3
Analyze how an author's choices in building a story or drama shape it, including character and setting, plot and subplots, themes, and mood.
RL.11-12.4
Work out what words mean in a Shakespeare play or a modern poem, including double meanings and strikingly fresh phrasing, and say how they color the tone.
RL.11-12.5
Explain how choosing where a story begins or ends, or giving it a comic or tragic ending, shapes its overall structure, its meaning and its beauty.
RL.11-12.6
Tell what a narrator or character states from what the author really means in satire, sarcasm, irony or understatement, and explain the gap.
RL.11-12.7
Analyze several interpretations of a story, play or poem, like a staged or recorded play, an audiobook novel or a poetry reading, and judge how each reads the source.
RL.11-12.9
Show knowledge of foundational American and world literature, comparing how two or more works written in the same period treat similar themes and topics.
RL.11-12.10
Read and understand stories, plays and poems at grade 11 to college and workplace complexity, with support at the hardest level in grade 11 and independently in grade 12.
Reading Standards for Informational Text
10 standardsRI.11-12.1
Support an analysis of a nonfiction text with strong, thorough, relevant evidence for what it states and suggests, and point out where the author leaves a question unresolved.
RI.11-12.2
Trace two or more central ideas through a nonfiction text, show how they build on one another into a complex analysis, and summarize it without opinion.
RI.11-12.3
Explain how the people, ideas and events in a complex nonfiction account interact and develop from its opening to its close.
RI.11-12.4
Work out figurative, loaded and technical meanings in nonfiction, and track how a writer sharpens a key term, as Madison does with faction in Federalist No. 10.
RI.11-12.5
Judge whether the way an essay or argument is organized makes its points clear, convincing and engaging, and say what works and what does not.
RI.11-12.6
Work out an author's purpose or point of view in a highly persuasive or well-crafted text, analyzing how style and content give it power, persuasiveness or beauty.
RI.11-12.7
Pull together several sources on a question, including charts, data, images and text, weigh each one, and use them to answer it or solve a problem.
RI.11-12.8
Lay out and judge the reasoning in seminal American texts, like how a Supreme Court opinion or dissent applies the Constitution or how The Federalist argues its case.
RI.11-12.9
Analyze landmark American and world documents that matter in history and literature, like the Declaration of Independence, for their themes, purposes and rhetorical choices.
RI.11-12.10
Read literary nonfiction like essays, speeches and memoirs at grade 11 to college and workplace complexity, with support at the top level in grade 11 and alone by grade 12.
Writing Standards
10 standardsW.11-12.1
Argue a substantive topic or text in writing with a precise claim, a counterclaim weighed for its strengths and limits, linked sections, a formal tone and a close.
W.11-12.2
Explain a complex topic in writing, sorting ideas to show connections, adding headings or figures where they help, using precise terms, and closing on why it matters.
W.11-12.3
Write a story that opens on a problem, sets up a narrator and point of view, weaves dialogue, pacing and more than one plot line, and closes with a reflection.
W.11-12.4
Shape a lab report, history essay or technical write-up so its organization and style fit the assignment, its purpose and its readers.
W.11-12.5
Plan, revise, edit and rewrite a history essay or lab report, or start over with a new approach, fixing first what matters most for its purpose and readers.
W.11-12.6
Publish writing online and keep updating it as feedback, new arguments or new information come in, on your own or with a group.
W.11-12.7
Run short and longer research projects on a question you pose or are given, narrowing or widening it as needed and weaving several sources into one account.
W.11-12.8
Gather research from authoritative sources with advanced searches, weigh each source's limits, and weave it into writing with MLA or APA citations, avoiding plagiarism.
W.11-12.9
Back up analysis, reflection and research with evidence from literature and literary nonfiction, like weighing the legal reasoning in a Supreme Court opinion.
W.11-12.10
Write regularly for many tasks, purposes and audiences, from a research paper drafted and revised over weeks to a response finished in a single sitting or a day or two.
Speaking and Listening Standards
6 standardsSL.11-12.1
Lead and join discussions on grades 11-12 topics, prepared with research, keeping the exchange civil, airing every position, and deciding what still needs research.
SL.11-12.2
Combine information from charts, data, speeches and text to make a decision or solve a problem, judging each source's credibility and noting where the data disagree.
SL.11-12.3
Judge a speaker's stance, premises, evidence and rhetoric, from how the ideas link up to word choice, emphasis and tone.
SL.11-12.4
Present findings with evidence and a clear perspective listeners can follow, address opposing views, credit others' work, and suit style to purpose, audience and task.
SL.11-12.5
Choose digital media for a presentation strategically, like a chart for data or a short audio clip, where each one makes the reasoning clearer or adds interest.
SL.11-12.6
Fit your speech to many settings, audiences and tasks, showing a strong command of formal English when needed, like in a college interview or panel talk.
Language Standards
6 standardsL.11-12.1
Print many letters, use everyday nouns, verbs and little words like in and on, make plurals like dogs and wishes, ask with who and where, and speak in full sentences.
L.11-12.2
Capitalize the first word of a sentence and the word I, name the period and question mark, and spell simple words the way they sound, like kat for cat.
L.11-12.3
Notice how language works differently in a lab report, a poem and a speech, and write and edit to a style manual such as the MLA Handbook when the task calls for one.
L.11-12.4
Work out an unfamiliar grades 11-12 word from context, word families like conceive, conception and conceivable, or a specialized reference, then verify the guess.
L.11-12.5
Explain a nonliteral phrase like take steps, name someone who is friendly to link a word to real life, and rank knew, believed and suspected by how sure they are.
L.11-12.6
Build and use the academic and subject-specific vocabulary needed for college and career reading and writing, looking up on your own any word that matters to an idea.
The official Louisiana documents
- K-12 Louisiana Student Standards for English Language Arts · adopted March 2016, revised 2019 · since 2016-17, through 2026-27
- 2026 K-12 Louisiana Student Standards for English Language Arts · coming next · adopted 2026 · from 2027-28
The plain-English lines on this page are EMStudio's own explanations of Louisiana's standards, not the official wording, which Louisiana Department of Education publishes in the documents above. Codes and strand names identify each standard.